Metal polish



Patented Jan. 1,, 1935' l T g y UNITED STATES TENT OFFICE METALPOL ISH William S. Calcott, Pennsgrovc,

Richard G. Clarkson, Wilmington, ms to E. I. du Pont de Nemours DeL, a corporation of Delaware Wilmington,

N Drawing.

10 Claims.

This'invention relates to cleaning and polishing compositions or admixtures, and more partlcularly to a cleaning and polishing admixture for removing tarnish and rain spots from metals which are exposed to theweather, such as nickel, brass, and to some extent chromium plated surfaces.

According to M. de Keghel, Rev. prod. chim., 25,

327, metal polishes may ingeneral be dividedinto "two classes. The first class contains an abrasive suspended in a soap solution. The second class, and that which finds less frequent use, is a cleaner which may be an abrasive suspended in a soap solution to which has been added a chemical cleaner such as ammonium oxalate, oxalic acid,

etc.

Polishes falling within the first class require a large amount of manual work in order to pro duce a clean, lustrous surface. Moreover, since "the cleaning is the result of abrasion, more or less' of the metallic surface is removed with each cleaning. Where, as isfrequently the case, a lustrous metal is plated over a different base there is danger of eventual corrosion of the plating to expose the base metal. The ever present danger connected with the useof the second class of polishes lies in incomplete removalof the chemical cleaning agent. Unless the surface is carefully washed to remove the chemical, the sur- -"=face will be badly attacked by the corrosive actionof the cleaning agent. Moreover, the necessity of washing is a detriment in that thevery luster which is being sought is destroyed by dirty water. An object of this invention is to provide a cleaning and polishing composition for use upon metallic surfaces. A further object is to provide a cleaning and polishing composition which will not necessitate washing in order to remove the excess of polish. A further object is the provision of a composition which will not corrode the metallic surface if left in contact with it. Another object of ourinvention is to provide a cleaning and polishing composition which will 15 render the metallic surface more resistant to tarnishing and rain spots.

These objects are accomplished by our invention, which, in one of its aspects, comprises the addition of a wetting out agent to an aqueous i0 solution of a metallic cleaner and admixture with the aqueous solution of a solution of wax in an organic solvent. I l By way of illustration of our invention, the following formula is given:

5 Dissolve "7.5 parts by weight of paraffin wax and 5 parts of oleic acid in 225 parts ,.of warm commercial o-dichlorbenzene and stir in 50 parts of infusorial earth. Separately dissolve5 parts by weight of ammonia oxalate, 1.5. parts of strong (28%) aqueous ammonia and 2.5 parts of .1-

N. J., and' Del., assign- & Company,

Application January 8, 1930, Serial no. 419,453 r mixture or emulsion is an excellent polish for metallic surfaces.

"We have tested polishes which fall within our invention, and of which the above example is an illustration, by comparative polishing of samples of nickel which had been exposed to the weather for several days. I With our composition much less time was required to obtain a clean surface than was required with most commercial preparations. The few commercial polishes which gave a clean surface at all comparative with our polish were much less satisfactory because they removed a great deal more of the surface of the metal itself than did our polish. This was established by making scratches upon the metallic surface. Scratches thus made upon the metal were much more readily removed by the commercial cleaners than by our composition, indicating a greater corrosive action by the commercial cleaners. Moreover, samples of nickel which had been polished with commercial preparations tarnished badly when exposed to the weather for twelve hours,

while samples which had been cleaned with our composition remainder unaffected for more than forty-eight hours under identical conditions.

We prefer 1-isopropyl-naphthalene-2-sodium since any alkylated sulfonic acid derivative of an aromatic hydrocarbon containing at least two benzene nuclei will function asa wetting out agent. In the example given above,we have shown the use of paraifin wax. Carnauba wax may be substituted for paraffin wax in the above example. In fact any solid wax falls within the contemplation of our invention, and by waxwe 'mean not only esters of high molecular weight and formedfrom higher monohydric alcohols,

but also the solid higher parafiin hydrocarbons of p more or less indefinite; composition.

We prefer to add thewax to the organic solvent in an amount somewhat less than that amount ;required to saturate the solvent at 25 C. We do not wish to be limited to this precise procedure sincethe amount of wax will vary'with different solvents. In'general, we preferorganic solvents whichshould be immiscible with water in large part at'least, and which preferably boil between 100 C. and 200 C. As examples of organic solvents which we have tested and found to be satisfactoryaresolventnaphtha,tetra-hydro-naphthalene, spirits of turpentine and o-dichlorbenzene. We have found it advantageous to add a small amount of soap or soapy material to our compositionin order'tostabilize the emulsion or admixture. To this end wefind it desirable-to add to the fatty acid. In general, we add the fatty,

acid to the extent of 10% of the amount of organic solvent. that no marked improvement iseifectedthereby.

We have found it advantageous to add to ou r composition a limited amount of abrasive material such as infusorial earth, Tripoli powder,

powdered silica or the like. We have found it of advantage to add this abrasive material to the,

organic solution prior to admixture withtheaqueous; solution, the abrasive being added. in;

amount. sufficient. to make a moderately thick paste.

We have :foundtha-t the addition'of about 1% of.;.cleaning agent .to the aqueous solution gives efiective results. As cleaning agents we have used oxalicacid, citric. acid, acetic acidand tartaric acid and the ammonium salts thereof. Other alkali-metal salts maybe employed.

The cleaningaction of the, composition'is accomplished by;the--jo;int action of the cleaning agent such. as the=ammoniumoxalate, and the abrasive. The aqueoussol-ution wets the metallic surface in: preference to, the non-aqueous organic-solution because the aqueous solution contains-the wetting out. agent. The evaporationof the .non-aqueousorganic solvent causes the deposition of athinifilm of wax upon the surface of themetal- The film of wax protects the metal and prevents the excessive action of the chemical cleaner even :if thepolish isincompletely removed. Theafilmi of-wax alsoserves-to protect the metal from the action of the air .and any corrosive gases-present. therein; and serves toprolong the lustrous appearance of the metal. Byoure-polish the luster, upon metallic surf aces,- suchas brass,- nickel and chromium, is considerably preserved. Ourcompositiomof matter may alsobe applied to thepolishing of, ornamental .silver and similar.v I surfaces.

. Since manyembodiments of this invention differingwidely in oneor more respects may be made without I departing ;;from the spirit; .of. our-,invention, it is to be understood that we donot limit ourselvesto-the foregoingexamples or description.

except as indicated in the following claims:

What is; claimed is;

1-. Aspolish-for metallic surfaces which contains; inadmixture vwax'and-ahigher fatty acid dissolvedin .an organic solvent. which is immiscible with water in large part at least and an alka-. line: aqueous solution containing a cleaning agent of. the :water soluble. aliphatic acid group con.- sisting of oxalic:acid,;acetic acid,.tartaric acid, citric acid; andtthezalkali; salts of said acids and a wettingout 'agent.

2.-.A'polish for metallic surfaces which con 7 tains in admixture paraffin waxand oleic acid dissolvedain o-dichlorbenzene; infusorial earth,

' and ,an aqueous solution containing ammonium.

oxalate, ammonium hydroxide andl-isoprcpylnaphthalene-Z-sodium. sulfonate.

3. A polish formetallic surfaces which contains in admixture parafiin wax-and oleic acid, dissolved in o-dichlorbenzene, and an aqueous solution containing ammonium. .oxalate, ammonium hydroxide and 1 -isopropylnaphthalene-2- sodiumsulfonate.

4; A polish :for. metallic-surfaces which containsrin admixture -wax -and a..fatty acid of the More maybe; used, but wefind;

monium hydroxide and an alkylated sulfonic .acidzderivative. of. an aromatic hydrocarbon congroup consisting of oleic acid, stearic acid and palmitic aciddissolved in'a memberofthe group consisting. of o-dichlorbenzene, solvent naphtha, tetra-hydro-naphthalene, and spirits of turpentine, and an aqueous solution containing a memberof the group consisting of oxalic acid, citric acid, acetic acid, tartaric acid and the ammonium salts thereof, an alkaline material such as amammonium. tartrate,-an alkaline material such as ammonium hydroxide and alkylated sulfonic. acid derivative of anaromatic hydrocarboncontaining two benzene nuclei.

6.. A polish. for metallic. surfaces which. con-, tains, in admixture, wax and a,higher fatty acid dissolved in-an organic solvent of the group .con.- sisting of solvent naphtha, tetra-hydro-naphthalene, spirits of turpentine and o-dichlor-benzene and'fan alkaline aqueous solution containing a cleaning agent of the water soluble aliphatic acid.

group consisting of-oxalic. acid, acetic acid, tar.-

taric acid,v citric acid andthe alkali salts .ofv

saidflacids, and a-wettingput agent.

7.,A polish for metallic surfaces which contains, in admixture, wax and a higher fatty acid. dissolved in an organic solvent which is immiscible with water inlarge part at least and an alka-.

line aqueous solution containing a cleaning agent,

of the water soluble, aliphatic acid group ,consisting of oxalicacid, acetic acid, tartaric acid,

citric acidand thealkali salts, of, such acids, and an alkylated sulphonicacid' derivative of an aromatic hydrocarbon containingat least, two,-

nzene. nucl i.-

8.. A polish for vmetallicsurfaces which con:- tains, in admixture, wax and. a higher fatty acid.

dissolved in an organic solvent which is immiscible with water in large part at least and analka: line aqueous solutioncontaining a cleaning agent of the water .soluble aliphatic acid group consisting of oxalic acid, acetic acid, tartaric acid,

citric acid and the alkali salts of suchacids, and.

1-isopropyl-naphthalene-2-sodium sulfonate. V

9. A polish for metallic surfaces which contains, in admixture, wax and oleic acid dissolved,

oxalic acid, acetic acid, tartaric acid, citric acidv and the alkalisalts of such acids, and awetting out agent.

10. A polish for metallic surfaces which con.- tains, inadmixture, wax and a higher fatty acid dissolved in an organic solvent which is substantially immiscible in water and has a boiling point betweenand 200 C. andan alkaline aqueous solution containing a cleaning agent of the water soluble aliphatic acid group consisting of oxalic acid, acetic acid, tartaric acid, citric acid.

and the-alkali salts of said acids, and a wetting out agent.

WILLIAM, S. CALCOTT.

RICHARD G. CLARKSON. 

